A member of three Republican administrations who thrice ran for president has retired at age 84, according to a Newsmax report.
Conservative icon Patrick Buchanan has retired from writing his weekly syndicated column, capping a long and storied public career.
Buchanan began as a St. Louis Globe-Democrat editorial writer before moving in 1965 to New York City. He began work at a NYC law firm where then-former Vice President Richard Nixon was a partner. Nixon hired him as an adviser to his successful 1968 presidential campaign.
Buchanan worked in the Nixon White House as an assistant and speechwriter for Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew. Buchanan coined the phrase “Silent Majority,” that Nixon used in a speech delivered November 3, 1969. The speechwriter traveled with Nixon to China in 1972, according to a Wikipedia report.
The stalwart conservative stuck with Nixon through the Watergate scandal that ended with Nixon’s resignation in 1974. He briefly continued working in the White House when Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon, according to Wikipedia.
After leaving the Ford White House, Buchanan returned to writing a newspaper column and began appearing on television broadcasts as a political commentator. He became a regular panelist on “The McLaughlin Group” and the CNN program “Crossfire,” which made him nationally known.
He left broadcasting and writing his syndicated column for a few years in the ’80s when he worked as a communications director for then-President Ronald Reagan.
Buchanan, reportedly upset by President Bush breaking his promise of “Read my lips, no new taxes,” entered the 1992 primary for the GOP presidential nominee.
When President Bush declined to seek reelection, Buchanan declared his 1996 candidacy for the GOP nomination to oppose Democratic candidate Bill Clinton. WWII hero Bob Dole ended up winning the Republican primary that year.
After losing to Dole, Buchanan returned to writing his column, appearing on “Crossfire” and writing books. He ended up leaving the Republican Party in 1999.
Buchanan secured a 2020 presidential nomination from a fractured Reform Party, which Ross Perot founded in his quest for the Oval Office. The conservative Buchanan chose Ezola Foster, a retired teacher turned Black activist, to be his vice president running mate.
Besides his lengthy career as a political adviser, politician and media host, Buchanan authored 10 books, including four New York Times best sellers, according to a Daily Caller report.
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